Computer Program Pretends to be a Teen, Passes Turing Test

Eugene Goostman, a computer program, fooled judges at the Royal Society in London into thinking that it was a 13-year-old boy. This is the first time that a computer has passed the iconic Turing Test, researchers say. 

Back in the 1950s, Alan Turing - the father of modern computers asked, "Can Machines Think?" Today, researchers have proved - "Yes, machines can think!"

There is no reason to panic, yet. Computers have gotten powerful in the past few years, but they aren't building Skynet to fight humans.

The Turing Test 2014, conducted by the University of Reading's School of Systems Engineering, is important because it shows that people can mistake a computer chatbox for a human.

"In the field of Artificial Intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test, when a computer convinces a sufficient number of interrogators into believing that it is not a machine but rather is a human," said Kevin Warwick, a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading, according to a news release.

During the competition, Eugene convinced 33 percent of the judges that it is a 13-year-old boy. To pass the test, a computer needs to convince 30 percent of the judges.

Eugene was created by software development engineer Vladimir Veselov and software engineer Eugene Demchenko. The program was born in 2001 and its developers plan to make the program smarter and more believable.

One of the immediate problems of this human-like chatbot is that it can take online scams to a whole new level, according to an article by James Lyne published in Forbes.

"Of course the Test has implications for society today. Having a computer that can trick a human into thinking that someone, or even something, is a person we trust is a wake-up call to cybercrime.  The Turing Test is a vital tool for combatting that threat. It is important to understand more fully how online, real-time communication of this type can influence an individual human in such a way that they are fooled into believing something is true...when in fact it is not," said Warwick in a news release.

Eugene was among the five supercomputers battling it for the Turing Test 2014 Prize. The event was especially poignant because it marked 60th anniversary of Turing's death. The 'Enigma code-breaker' Turing was in news recently after he received posthumous royal pardon. Turing was chemically castrated in 1952 due to his affair with a 19-year-old man.